


Stuck Still

by Fanofthebastillelife



Category: Bastille (Band)
Genre: Ayy Will to the rescue lol, Drowning, Freezing, falling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-09
Updated: 2019-04-09
Packaged: 2020-01-07 12:26:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,137
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18410615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fanofthebastillelife/pseuds/Fanofthebastillelife





	Stuck Still

"I honestly cannot believe your sledge broke so soon,"

The snow beneath their boot-clad feet flattens with a satisfying crunch as they walk through the woodland, crowded with trees with nowhere to go and no direction in mind. They  _had_ been messing around on Will's sledge like a bunch of children, building slopes and trying not to break bones whilst going at break-neck speeds towards the trees surrounding them. At one point, Woody had attempted to outrun Dan and Kyle who were lying on top of each other as they flew down the steepest hill in the area, Will filming it on the crappy camcorder Woody's parents had given their son for Christmas the day before. Needless to say, the boys on the sledge won,  _but only 'cos I slipped on the pissing ice!_ as Woody had argued, Will stood in the background, laughing and pleased that he managed to capture the event on tape.

At Kyle's words, Will frowns.

 _"You're_ the one who broke it, Kyle," he murmurs, looking down at the ground with his hands balled tightly in his pockets to keep them warm. The sledge wasn't new, not by any means, but it had  _some_ life left in it- but now it just lies in pieces in the bin.

The younger boy, as he does, brushes off the comment and casually shrugs, "Meh, not my fault, really, was it?"

"Sorry, it's not? Was it not you who jumped on it or am I hallucinating?"

As is the norm with Kyle, he refuses to accept any accountability for his actions. Not when he broke the vase in his grandma's hallway, not when he smashed the window to the science classroom whilst playing rounders, and not when he fell onto Dan and broke his leg. Whilst Dan hadn't really cared much, aside from the pain and initial  _what the fuck is up, Kyle?!,_ Will and Woody had been  _fuming,_ considering they were in the middle of nowhere and there  _is no way we can get Dan back home with a broken leg. What the Hell, Kyle?_

Alas, they somehow managed. They always do.

"Should've been stronger, then," he teases back, putting his head back and looking up to the sky. The clouds are fat and white, full of snow waiting to be released. He suspects it will start to fall at any moment. "It seemed like a good idea at the time."

"Fuck off, Kyle," Will chuckles, rolling his eyes at the boy and his mannerisms. As much as they argue,  they all love each other. "Where the Hell are we going, anyway? Or are we just walking for the sake of walking and not going home, or do we actually have a destination in mind?"

The four of them are walking on the path leading up to the nearby lake, which, in the Summer, is the home of the swans, ducks, and other wildlife. It's beautiful, seeing the animals out, the flowers blooming in the sun. Today, however, the ground is covered in snow, and the lake is frozen, any signs of flowers or greenery completely gone.

"Well, you're right on both accounts, but I know an area that will probably be waist-deep with snow," breaking his silence, Dan holds a hand up to his waist, just where his joggers sit beneath his many layers, to demonstrate just how deep the snow is over there. "It's like a twenty-minute walk away. I think it would be fun."

"Twenty minutes, though? Where the Hell is it?"

Dan half-way turns to Woody and shrugs, his shoulders rising and dropping quickly. "It's near the old pit. The walk would be shorter, but I don't think it's a very good idea to walk across the lake."

"Oh, right,  _that's_ where we are," Kyle mutters as he looks around him as if it's somewhere only vaguely familiar. He's only been around here a few short times, and not a single time when it has been snowing. "I thought we were somewhere completely different."

"That's 'cos you're an idiot,"

Woody bends and retrieves a handful of fresh, smooth snow before he walks over and lovingly sprinkles it down the back of  Kyle's coat, jumper, and t-shirt, onto his bare skin. The boy yelps in surprise, practically leaping out of the way.

"Ah, fuck!" He shouts in the highest pitch he can possibly reach, arching his back and wafting his shirt so the snow falls out of the bottom. "And  _I'm_ the menace, am I? Unbelievable, Woods. Un-fucking-believable."

"It's karma, 'cos you did it to me, earlier," Dan laughs softly, catching up with Kyle and pressing his shoulder against Kyle's, who doesn't look too pleased.

The snow has left a burning chill down Kyle's back, straight to the bone.

"It always comes back again, Dude. Always."

The three of them laugh, apart from Kyle, who is mentally cursing them.

Slowly, the group slow down until they stop, looking out at the frozen lake before them. Honestly, none of them can be bothered to walk the whole way around it.

"Look, I don't wanna be  _that guy-"_ Will starts, putting his hands together as a teacher would when addressing the class. "It's, what, three o'clock? It's going to start getting dark in about an hour, and, you know, twenty minutes to walk around the lake, twenty minutes back? Is it  _really_ worth it?"

"There's nothing else to do, nowhere else to go," Woody brushes his chilly hands off on Will's coat and then stuffs them into the pocket of his jacket. His  _Plymouth Argyle_ scarf is wrapped tightly around his neck and stuffed down the front of his coat. "I don't really fancy going home just yet."

"I just don't see the point in spending twenty minutes walking  _over there_ to some snow when there is already an abundance of it  _over here,"_ Will gestures around him, "We might as well as head back and find somewhere else to spend an hour."

Like Woody, Will has his own scarf wrapped around him. After all, it's boxing day and it's  _far_ too cold to be coming out without one. However, unlike Woody's, his is both not supporting a football club, nor is it messily shoved down the front of his coat, as are Dan's and Kyle's.

Dan brushes off some snow on the nearby bench and sits down, taking a deep lungful of the bitterly cold air and blowing it into his hands to warm them up. "It's deeper over there, though, so it's more fun. It's up to you guys, but I would like to go. It's too early to head back yet, and if I go home now, my dad is probably going to pester me into helping build my sister's new doll's house."

He takes a moment and looks at the others, his eyes pleading with them.

 _"Please?_ Please don't put me through that torture,"

They contemplate it, Woody sitting next to Dan and Will standing in front of them. Kyle, however, continues walking, leaving the other three behind. 

"Why don't we just,  _I don't know, walk_ across the lake?" He questions, turning around as if it's obvious. He steps backwards, closer to the edge of the lake, "Look, it's frozen solid. There's no point wasting all that time walking  _around_ when we could walk  _over_ it. You know, the whole,  _we're going on a bear hunt_ sort of thing,"

"What the Hell are you talking about?"

"We can't go over it, we can't go around it. We're gonna have to go-"

"Through it..." Dan sighs, completing the sentence and looking at the other three, hoping for one of them to weigh their opinion in. Logically, the famous saying suggests the four of them will have to go  _through_ the ice, but they all get what Kyle means by it.

"Exactly!"

"The ice isn't as solid as it looks, Kyle- we really shouldn't risk it." The oldest of the bunch stands by the bench and watches the youngest with careful, curious eyes as he presses a foot against the ice before planting it down solidly. Presenting his discovery that he  _hasn't_ fallen through the ice, Kyle turns back to Will with a cheeky grin on his face, as if he has proved him wrong. "Just 'cos you haven't gone through particular spot doesn't mean it's completely solid the entire way through, alright?"

Out of the four of them, it's undeniable that Will is the one who is the most considerate of the world and the people around him. He will consider things from multiple angles before thinking or doing them, he'll watch out for the rest, and he is careful in his thinking. If he thinks something could go wrong or someone could get hurt, he'll tell them.

Meanwhile, Kyle is probably the most irresponsible of them. He doesn't think about his actions or his words, and he certainly doesn't think about what the dangers of a situation could be. He'd run across a motorway blindfolded if somebody wasn't there to stop him. If there's a chance he could potentially get hurt? Well damn, he's probably more likely to do it! It  _infuriates_ the both of them that the other is so different.

"For the Love of all things holy and pure, will you stop worrying so much?  _Live_ a little bit for once!"

Rolling his eyes, Kyle sets his other foot on the ice, so it is supporting his full body weight. He takes a careful step forward, and even though he might feel  _slightly_ nervous, he doesn't show it since it would give Will even the slightest idea that he is right.

"I am  _living,_ Kyle. I just don't want you to die from this stupid fucking idea."

 _"Look._ I'm stood  _on the ice._ It's  _fine._ Come on, it'll take us five minutes at most to walk across the lake- straight over the middle, we'll be fine. Get frog-marching 'cos we're wasting sweet sweet time that we could be in the snow."

The three of them who still have their feet planted on the solid land exchange a nervous glance to each other, each of them asking the same question. None of them thinks this is a good idea, but they all know that Kyle will not give it up.

"We can't let him go alone," they speak in hushed tones, only glancing back to Kyle as he takes a few more timid steps forward, spreading his weight evenly between each foot so he doesn't slip. The speaker, Dan, just shrugs as he speaks. "It's either he goes alone or we all go. We all know he won't give this up."

"He's a stubborn bastard."

"We know he is, Will, but if something happens- not just to Kyle, but to any of us- then we  _all_ need to be there," the other two look at Dan, who is sat with his shoulders hunched and his hands in his pockets. His snow is sprinkled with snowflakes yet to melt. "Just in case."

Will and Woody take a deep breath, and Dan is just relieved that Kyle isn't going across alone. Kyle is stood about ten steps away from the edge of the lake, waiting for them, teasing about their  _change of minds, eh, lads? See! I always end up being right._

As they catch up to the boy, Will retrieves Woody's camera from its place in his pocket, flicking it open and pressing record. For a short second, he records his feet sliding across the ice, and then he lifts it to film the other three.

The camera records them mucking about a little bit- Woody trying to push Dan over on the ice, Dan looking like Bambi as he tries to correct himself, and Kyle laughing at them. It records Dan as he pushes nudges Will and tells some joke about  _falling arse over tit,_ and it records Will telling Kyle that  _maybe this wasn't such a terrible idea._

Then, within a flash, the boy is gone.

Finding himself completely submerged in the freezing water, the shock forces all of the oxygen from his lungs, inviting the bitter, icy water into them. It takes less than a split second, but right there, he  _swears_ he is going to die. It surrounds him and takes over him, the icy burns reaching right through to his bones, the  _helplessness_ in his kicks and flailing arms which make his boots come flying off, gently floating to the lake bed.

It feels like he is just floating in space. He can't kick himself in any particular direction, all he can do is  _float,_ is  _sink._ Down, and down, and down.

The water begins to seep through his clothing- first through his thick, Winter coat, the one he had been excited to buy  _because it's bright orange, Mum! Who doesn't want a bright orange coat?_ And then through his scarf and his jumper, and finally through his t-shirt, his favourite  _whale you kiss me under the mistletoe?_ which had purely been chosen because of the two kissing whales. His bottoms are boxers are already sodden, freezing him from the outside in.

Even when he  _finally_ opens his eyes to try and give himself some sense of direction, he can't see  _anything._ There is a patch of light right above him that he tries his best to climb towards, to bring himself back to his friends, but the more and more he kicks, the further and further it disappears. It feels like he is gripping at air.

Slowly, the blackness that had only outlined his vision begins to creep up and take over until it's his everything.  _Nothingness._

"For fuck's sake!"

Above him, on the ice, the oldest of his friends rushes to the small hole where the ice had caved under Kyle, placing the camcorder down and pulling off his gloves, coat, and pulling his sleeve up before he fishes his hand into the water without a second thought, trying to reach for the boy sinking lower and lower beneath them.

"This is  _exactly_ why I told him not to do this."

"I'll go and get somebody," Woody says quickly, pulling his scarf off and leaving it behind in case they will need it, for any reason. In a blink, the boy takes off sprinting across the ice, managing to keep himself on his own two feet without falling, darting down the same road they had casually strolled up just a few moments ago. If only they knew.

Whilst Woody and Will busy themselves in an attempt to rescue Kyle, Dan sits there feeling utterly  _lost._

"Dan, I can't feel him," he is informed by Will, who glances at Dan, and then back into the water. He is shoulder deep in the water, his sleeve completely sodden as the water spreads along to his chest. The cold is  _biting_ at him already, and he  _dreads_ to think of Kyle might feel, surrounded by it. "Tie the scarves together, we can use them as a rope."

Will uses his free arm to push his scarf towards Dan as he continues to fish around, waving his arm back and forth and trying to stretch out his fingertips in the hope that Kyle might feel them and latch on for dear life. He grips the edge of the ice, which he cannot help but fear might give in at any moment.

With shaky hands, Dan works quickly in tying the scarves together, the knots tight and messy. He feels sick at the thought of Kyle helplessly fighting to come back up, helplessly fighting for his life. He passes one end of the makeshift rope to Will, who, retrieving his submerged hand just to grab it, pushing them down as far as he can go, whilst Dan sits there holding the end and praying that Kyle will feel it, see it, or anything that gives him the incentive to hold on.

About a minute passes where the boys are sat in silence, one of them rapidly fishing his arm about in the water in an attempt to find Kyle, and the other feeling lost and having no idea what he can do to help, tears sat in his eyes.

"Will-" Dan's voice shakes, much alike all the other parts of his body, "It's been over a minute and a half-"

"Don't panic," Will says quickly, trying not to let himself panic. School taught them that three minutes is pretty much the cut off point, and Will is  _very_ aware of how close to that mark they are getting. "Just get ready to help him."

Dan strips himself of his coat and his jumper, placing them by his side and leaving himself in just his flimsy  _Star Wars_ t-shirt. If Will manages to get Kyle, which feels like it's becoming more and more unlikely by the second, he will still be freezing to death even out of the water.

"Will-"

"Dan- just, just  _shut up a minute, please,"_

Will closes his eyes for a minute, taking a deep breath. He grumbles under his breath as he sits up, deciding there is only one course of action left which  _might_ give their friend  _some_ chance of survival. He pulls off his jumper and t-shirt, kicks off his boots, and takes off his jeans so he is stood in nothing but his boxer shorts.

"Will- don't-"

Just as Kyle was in the moment that feels like it was  _just now_ and forever ago, Will is gone in a flash as he pushes himself into the water after dangling his feet in for a second, so he doesn't completely shock himself and end up in the same position as Kyle. Dan pulls the scarves out of the water and looks down the hole, only seeing his friend's disappearing figure.

In the water, Will has to fight every urge in his body that is telling him to gasp as he looks around himself, trying to spot something,  _anything_ that could signal Kyle's position. All he can see is deep blues and growing greys.

_Don't breathe. Don't breathe. Don't breathe._

It's like a torch is shining up at him when he spots the bright orange coat. Even as dull as it is, so far from where the light is, it still stands out like a sore thumb. Without missing a beat, Will swims right towards him, grabbing him initially by the floating hood, and then hoisting him up and grabbing him under his arms.

He looks  _dead._

Will pushes the thought from his mind as he wraps one arm tightly around Kyle's back, holding him to his chest as he uses his free hand to help direct himself as he drags him back up to the surface.

The second they break through the surface of the water, Will takes the deepest breath of his life. His hair is plastered to his forehead, and it feels like his whole body is shutting down. Between himself and Dan, they manage to push the boy over the ice, Dan grabbing him by his arms and pulling him fully out of the water, lying him down on the ice. There's an unmentioned fear between them that the ice might break again, and if it does, it'll spell disaster for them all.

None of them knows just how long Kyle has been under the water, but at least he's out now.

"Are you okay?" 

Will clambers out of the water, too cold to complain and stands on the ice for a moment, water dripping from his shorts and his skin. Dan shoves some clothes towards him, reminding him to get dressed as quickly as possible. His mind was too numb to think.

At Dan's question, he just nods.

When he listens for Kyle's breathing, Dan realises that there are  _no signs_ of Kyle being alive. His skin is a mix of grey and blue and he's not breathing at all. Quickly, he begins to give CPR, pushing heavily down onto Kyle's chest as Will tries to dry himself with his t-shirt, and then quickly slips his coat, bottoms, and boots on. Kyle will appreciate his jumper more.

"We need to get him undressed," he tells Dan, his voice shivering. While Dan continues pushing down on his chest and giving him mouth to mouth, Will bends down and slips Kyle's trousers off. If the boy were awake he would joke about  _stop trying to touch me up you weirdo._ "Is he breathing?"

"No," Dan replies, distress in his voice. They don't bother removing Kyle's upper layers, since Dan was always told never to stop giving somebody CPR until their heart started again. Will uses Dan's jumper to dry the frozen boy's legs, which have gone horrifically blue.  _"Kyle,"_ he begs,  _"Please."_

As if a higher power has been listening, Kyle throws up all the water from inside of him. There is no prior warning or movement, so Dan quickly moves his head to the side so he doesn't choke. Even though he hasn't come back to them yet, this means his heart is beating again. Dan looks at Will with such  _relief_ in his eyes- they're not completely in the clear by any stretch of the imagination, but perhaps it's the best they can ask for right now.

"We can't move him anymore," Will tells Dan, "If he's got hypothermia, it could give him a heart attack,"

"We have to take his coat and stuff off, though,"

Will pauses. "Let's be  _careful."_

Gently, they unzip Kyle's coat and gently take it from his arms, so he is just lying on it. Still, Kyle remains completely unresponsive. In a swift moment, Will lifts Kyle so he is almost sat up whilst Dan swiftly removes his t-shirt and jumper, puts Will's jumper on him, and peels the coat from beneath him.

When they gently place him back down, his head just rolls to the side, his chest very slightly raising and falling with the weakest breaths the other two have ever seen. He is showing no signs of life apart from his shallow, struggling breaths. When Will places an ear against the boy's chest, which is horrifically cold, he realises just how weak and irregular his heartbeat is.

"We really need help," Will mutters, unable to think of anything else they can do to help the boy anymore. It feels like they have done everything they can do for him. "Where the fuck is Woody?"

"We should get him off of the ice," the younger of the pair rubs Kyle's face softly, trying to warm him up the slightest bit. He's doing it without even realising it.

"Wait until help arrives."

"What if the ice gives out again? Then Kyle's definitely dead, and we're-"

"I don't know how to move him without hurting him anymore," Will admits, looking hopeless. Again, out of all of them, Will is the one they turn to the most when they need help, and it feels weird for Dan that even Will- Will, who holds so many of the answers and always knows how to help- doesn't know what to do.

Dan falls silent for a moment, continuing to warm Kyle up. He leans forward and listens for Kyle's breathing with is painful to listen to. "He sounds worse than he did before," he tells Will as the sound of sirens cuts through the muffled air around them. "What if we lose him?"

Every second feels riskier than the one before, and both of the boys are tense.  _How fucking stupid,_ Dan thinks,  _how fucking stupid of me to agree with Kyle._

Will doesn't say anything. Whilst they know they need to get off of the ice soon, they don't know how safe it is to do so. After all, it had only been a single weak spot that Kyle had stood on that had made the ice crack under the pressure. God knows how many more there may be.

"The ambulance should be here soon," Dan tells Will quietly, glancing down at where Will is staring to see if the ambulance is coming yet. "They can do more than we can. Are you alright?"

Will just shakes his head. "I'm cold, I'm scared, and I'm a fucking idiot for ever letting us do this."

"You know what he's like, Will-"

Again, Will shakes his head and silences him. He feels like his head is turning to ice and he just wants to lie down somewhere warm and go to sleep. He wants to forget that this day ever existed in the first place.

Like a beacon of light, the two ambulances come up the path where the boys had walked up, sirens blaring and snow flicking up from the under the wheels. The two boys on the ice exchange a look as they see them come closer, their shoulders dropping in relief.

It feels like they are being saved.

Kyle will be in far better hands than he is right now, and that means the world to them.

Neither of them wants to say the typical  _we'll be alright,_ because, honestly, even with the ambulances here, it doesn't feel like things are alright at all. Kyle's still hanging in the balance, sat here, freezing to death in front of them, and it feels horrible knowing there's very little they can do themselves now.

Carefully, the older two were instructed to leave the ice and leave their friend behind. It took longer to convince Will to leave Kyle than it had Dan, who gingerly picked up the camcorder, looked at Kyle as it were the last time he'd ever see him alive, and made his way back to safety. As soon as he saw Woody, he just burst into tears.

Will, meanwhile, refused to leave Kyle. He sat, crying on the ice next to him as it all hit him. He had to make sure Kyle was still breathing, that he was still, for the time being, alive. He told the paramedics it was his fault for letting Kyle go and agreeing to it, and that it was stupid and  _it's my fault Kyle is going to die._

Will was taken with Kyle, just to make sure he was okay, whilst the other two walked home to Dan's house. Will was inconsolable on the way to the hospital in the ambulance- Kyle's was already far gone since he needed immediate help. He sobbed and kept telling them it was his fault, but they couldn't get the full story out of him.

 

Kyle was placed in the intensive care unit and monitored closely since his heart kept giving up. It was touch and go for a few days, but not once were the other three allowed to see him- it was only his parents and his siblings that could be there, sat by the bed and looking at their beloved son, their beloved brother, covered in wires and looking horribly sick.

It was three days between Kyle falling through the ie and the Simmons' family being told that their son will live. It was a tense few days, and, honestly, they had expected to lose him, so the news felt as if it were sent by God himself.

It took another day for the hospital to feel confident enough to try and wake Kyle up. When he came around, choking on the tube down his throat which is helping keep him alive, he couldn't even speak. Every time he tried to, he ended up having a coughing fit, and his parents banned him from trying to speak.

Shortly, he was informed his friends would be coming to pay a visit. Initially, he dreaded it. From the little bits he remembers (Will telling him not be an idiot, laughing at Dan as he almost fell over), he knows he's going to be lectured by Will like he knows he deserves, but he just can't be bothered. Although, as the day went on, he was looking forward to their visit.

Honestly, Kyle has  _no idea_ how the Hell he got out of the ice. He thought he had died when he first woke up, groggy and unable to really see or hear much. He asked his mum and one of the doctors but they said the paramedics got him out. His mum knows it was a combined effort from all of Kyle's friends, though she is incredibly thankful for Will's bravery and quick thinking.

"I live,"

When the three boys pile next to Kyle's bed, he can't resist the urge to joke about it. He knows he shouldn't, and had his mum been there she probably would've yelled at him and then cried, but Christ, everyone has been so  _depressing_ lately. He just wants to lighten the move.

"Unfortunate, that. We were hoping you were gone for good," unlike everyone else, Woody jokes back with him. He appreciates the simple offer, though out of all of them, he expected Woody to be the one to take it less seriously. "Guess I owe Dan twenty quid now."

"Yeah, pay up," the other boy chuckles, thankful to see that Kyle is exactly the same as he was before. He had feared that he might suffer brain damage or anything of the sorts since he was underwater for so long. It probably felt longer in their minds than it was in reality, but it didn't make it any better. 

"How are you feeling?" Will asks, his voice soft and quiet like always, careful. Kyle, for one, appreciates it. "I know you've probably heard it, but you had us all pretty worried."

"I feel pretty rubbish, honestly. All I remember is laughing one minute and then, like, seeing my parents," the boy rubs his face, his movement tired and lethargic. "I'm sorry. I should have listened."

"At least you're alive. That's the main concern, okay?" Gently, Will  _takes_ Kyle's hand and squeezes it a little bit. He has been so worked up and worried that seeing Kyle alive makes him want to cry.

Kyle pulls him down and hugs him tightly, burying his head into the crook of Will's neck as tears form in his eyes. He hates himself for putting them all at risk- how stupid can he be?

Will holds onto him just as tight, hands gripping his shirt and holding the boy like his life depends on it- like he did when he pulled him from the freezing water.

"Thank you,"

Kyle whispers down his ear, almost as if he knows it was Will who saved him. Perhaps he doesn't remember at all, or perhaps it's all just come rushing back to him, but Will is fine with either. He's just happy to have the boy back. Alive.  _Breathing._

"Thank you."


End file.
